Crowdsourcing at the Library of Congress Update
Library of Congress sent this bulletin at 12/16/2019 02:47 PM ESTYou are subscribed to Crowdsourcing at the Library of Congress from the Library of Congress.
Clara Barton December Review Challenge and News
Clara Barton December Challenge
Clara Barton's birthday is December 25, 1821. For the rest of the month we invite you, our wonderful volunteers, to celebrate this incredible person by reviewing pages from her diaries and other writings. Our goal is to move the number of pages awaiting review under 3,000. Today, that number is 3,644. Help us make these pages more accessible to people all over the world! Learn more about how to review in our help center.
Clara Barton diaries published, and new materials to transcribe
Clara Barton spent most of her life responding to human suffering brought about by war, famine, and natural disasters. She founded the Missing Soldiers Office during the Civil War to help relatives of missing, imprisoned, wounded or dead Union soldiers discover what had happened to them. At the age of 59 she founded the American Red Cross to provide relief to civilians and soldiers in need around the world. She also fought for women's suffrage and women's right to work.
Throughout her life Barton kept a daily journal documenting her experiences, ranging from her work with soldiers and humanitarian relief organizations to the day to day work of running a household. These document expenses, visits with friends and family, and meetings with the many politicians and powerful people she lobbied to support her causes. By the People volunteers have completely transcribed and reviewed fourteen of Barton's diaries, which you can read on loc.gov, the Library's main website. You can transcribe and review the remaining diaries on crowd.loc.gov.
In addition to her fascinating diaries, Barton wrote autobiographies, speeches, poetry, and articles. We recently released these for transcription on By the People. Together with her diaries, these documents offer deep insights into her life and work.
-Victoria and the By the People team